Only Sweden stands in Russia's way now

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CALGARY — Having leapfrogged the Canadian thorn, Team Russia will now concentrate on laying waste to the only team to upset their apple cart over the past 10 days.

Team Sweden, which defeated Russia 4-3 in overtime during the round-robin stage — putting the only blemish thus far on the squad’s 2012 IIHF world junior hockey championship experience — will be their opponent on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome with the coveted gold medal on the line.

“It’s another game,’’ shrugged forward Alexander Khokhlachev, in admirable English, the day after a thrilling 6-5 semifinal win over Team Canada. “We had two huge games and it was a really hard third period last night.

“We don’t have the emotion right now, but (Thursday) we have to wake up and play 100 per cent.’’

In the fourth game of the tournament, back on Dec. 31, the Swedes rebounded from an early 3-0 deficit to upend the Russians in the extra frame. That loss meant second place in Group A for Russia, which was thus forced to play a quarter-final. Yet the young Russians have embraced the pressure of do-or-die hockey, besting the Czech Republic 2-1 in overtime, then hanging on to nip the hometown heroes.

“I think it’s concerning because the game at the group stage we had to win,’’ suggested Russia’s head coach Valeri Bragin, recalling the first meeting with Sweden with the aid of an interpreter. “We were 3-nil after two periods. Even when we were leading 3-2, we had to win that game. I think we’ll take a lesson from that.

“But I think the Swedes are like us, have gone through a great maturation, because they haven’t won the world juniors in something like 30 years. They have desire, we have desire, so the game will show who is stronger.’’

The Russians took to one of the WinSport rinks for about an hour on Wednesday, enjoying a little down time after what has been a hectic, pressure-fraught few days.

“No pressure,’’ countered forward Nail Yakupov. “We just play our game. Move the puck, go to the net, play good and play hard. It’s last game in world juniors, so everybody wants to win. I think it’s (going to) be a pretty good game.’’

As far as he and his mates are concerned, the semifinal victory over Canada is just a memory now.

“We don’t think about yesterday. It’s history,’’ noted Yakupov, who has nine assists in the tournament. “Canada behind us, so gold medal is gold medal. I want to win this because . . . it’s my first big tournament. It’s new life, it’s new hockey, so we’ll see.’’

“We feel really good for ourselves, for our win yesterday. But we have to forget about that (Thursday),’’ agreed Khokhlachev. “Last night, they (Canada) just scored one, two, three and we just stopped playing hockey. We need a full game. We can’t play with Sweden like we did last game.’’

Captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov — the object of fan derision due to his brilliance — leads the Russians into the final battle with six goals and seven assists.

Bragin said he will decide after Thursday’s morning skate which of his Andreis will start in net — Vasilevski or Makarov — but has told both to be ready. The 17-year-old Vasilevski, who was pulled in the Canada game after the fifth goal, has been brilliant in this tournament and is expected to get the call. But Makarov, the 18-year-old Saskatoon Blade, could also be rewarded for allowing his team to maintain the tenuous lead in the final five minutes and 43 seconds.

Bragin was also upset by the one-game suspension the IIHF handed to defenceman Ildar Isangulov for a shoulder hit to the head of Canadian Boone Jenner, who was also suspended for a separate incident. The Russians are working on an appeal, but aren’t expecting anything to come of it.

“It was a clean check and it’s very disappointing for a kid to sit out a gold-medal game,’’ said Bragin. “He will never get this chance again in his lifetime.’’

Calgary Herald

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